Pneumonia may be contracted in utero and be present at birth or be acquired after birth. Roughly the same organisms affect the neonate up until three months.
The incidence of pneumonia in the newborn is relatively high - one to two per thousand. The pneumonia in a neonate is usually of bacterial origin.
Bacterial organisms that may cause neonatal pneumonia include group B streptococci, gram-negative bacilli including E. coli, Klebsiella, and Pseudomonas, Listeria and the Staphylococcus species. Other rarer bacterial pathogens include anaerobic bacilli and Chlamydia.
Non-bacterial pathogens that may cause neonatal pneumonia include mycoplasma pneumonia, candida albicans, cytomegalovirus and pneumocystis carinii.
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